Washington State University threatened to withhold a student’s diploma because she still owed it a pretty penny — as in literally 1 cent.
Senior Katie Lane received an email earlier this month notifying her of the unpaid balance, which could result in “late-payment fees” or even a hold on her diploma.
“I was super freaked out because I thought something went wrong with my financial aid, because the semester just started less than a month ago,” the zoology major told Insider.
“So I was worried not all my financial aid dispersed or there was some sort of issue that I was gonna have to work out,” she added.
But when she logged on to her account, she realized that WSU was a bit penny-wise and dollar-foolish.
She owed a whole cent.
So Lane gave her two cents on TikTok, where she described the predicament.
“That’s terrifying! I’m panicking! What charges is it? How much is it? I have like $90 in my bank account. How am I going to pay this?” she said about her initial thoughts.
“Do you not think you could just let this one go? I mean, I guess I’ll enroll in a payment plan,” Lane continued sarcastically. “I have a penny just laying around. I’ll walk in person and give it to them.”
She told the news outlet that she could “pay online, but there’s a $3 convenience fee for paying by debit card and I’d rather not pay 300 times my balance.”
A university spokesperson told Insider that the small-change missive was a mistake the school was working to fix, adding that students are awarded degrees even with unpaid balances.
“Regardless, no diplomas would be withheld for an unpaid 1-cent balance as a matter of university policy,” the rep said.
“The physical diploma, however, may be withheld from students with unpaid balances of $5 or more,” the spokesperson noted.
About 6.6 million students in the US have been denied access to their transcripts, sometimes due to having unbalances of $25 or less, according to the outlet, which cited a 2021 piece in the Hechinger Report.
Lane told Insider many people have messaged her about similar experiences over trivial sums.
“I made a TikTok because I think the best way to approach it is just by laughing at it because it is ridiculous,” she said.
